Teamsters Delegates Give Vote Of Confidence To Status Quo

May 21, 1986|By James Warren, Chicago Tribune.

LAS VEGAS — Delegates to the Teamster Union convention on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected the direct election of officers by the rank-and-file and a $125,000 limit on officers` pay, which is now as high as $550,000 and dwarfs that of other unions.

Delegates loudly chided dissidents` resolutions one day after Labor Secretary William Brock criticized the union for losing ``the public trust.`` The votes also followed a night in which the union president was carried aloft in a mock chariot at a lavish dinner party for 5,000.

Delegates also spurned a move by the hierarchy to delete a 1971 constitutional provision that made the then-imprisoned former union President James Hoffa, who is presumed to have been murdered in 1975, the union`s president emeritus for life.

One delegate declared: ``The man`s not here, but it hasn`t been proven he won`t be back.`` Other comments revealed that Hoffa maintains an emotional hold among the 1.6-million members.

Most of Tuesday`s debate involved the method of selecting the union`s top national officers. It`s a system common to many unions, with convention delegates electing the officers.

Dissidents maintain that the delegate-selection process is flawed and undemocratic. The union rejects the charge, and dissidents failed in urging a unionwide referendum, a practice of only a handful of unions.

The notion of chopping salaries generated a similarly negative response. More than 75 Teamsters earn in excess of $100,000 in salaries, expenses and allowances, with Teamster President Jackie Presser earning $550,000 in salaries alone, five to six times that of most union leaders.

``Let`s face it, $100,000 today is nothing,`` said delegate Lou Riga of San Jose, Calif. Another delegate declared that $1 million a year would be more adequate given the ``pressures`` on Teamster leaders.

But the day`s work paled by comparison to the previous evening`s play, which ``was beyond bizarre,`` one disbelieving observer said.

About 5,000 delegates, guests and hangers-on came to a Caesars Palace extravaganza that could have been covered by either ``Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous`` or a revival of ``Ripley`s Believe It or Not.``

At a time of declining membership, the union`s East Coast division threw a party that featured an open bar and table after table of food fit for a king, or at least 5,000 closest friends.

Then the unmistakeable initial strains of Aaron Copland`s ``Fanfare for the Common Man`` pierced and silenced the ballroom chatter. Trumpets sounded and four tall and musclebound young men surfaced, dressed as helmeted Centurians and carrying aloft in a litter the tiny figure of Joseph ``Joe T`` Trerotola, the top East Coast official who`s in his late 70s.

But the true eye-opener was just a few paces behind as another four pseudo-Centurians wheeled in the 300-pound Presser on a large mock chariot.

As if royalty, rather than the just-indicted head of a maligned institution, Presser was carried about amid cheering. Like a monarch gently working his subjects, Presser, attired in cream-colored suit, waved and extended his beefy hands.

``I didn`t expect this tonight,`` a smiling Presser said when brought to a split-level dais overlooking the mass of humanity and food.

He was placed back on the chariot and disappeared into a side room. He was not forgotten.

The party continued with bands playing, booze flowing and formidable amounts of food left uneaten. Hotel workers, including bartenders and Centurians, estimated the total cost of the party at $100,000.

Presser was indicted Friday on charges of embezzling $700,000 in union funds.